It looks and sounds like a Jurassic Park movie, but the latest release from …

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You might go into Jurassic Park: The Game thinking it's a basic adventure game, something more like the rest of developer Telltale's line-up. You'd be wrong. It's much less. The quintessential example of an interactive movie, Jurassic Park is a mini-series set during and after the events of the first film, but with a few button presses thrown in every now and then to make it feel as if you're doing something. The story is mildly interesting and feels like a step up from the unnecessary third film, but there's simply too little gameplay.

The plot of Jurassic Park: The Game describes what happened after the events of the first film. It turns out a group of unlucky survivors was left on the dinosaur-infested Isla Nubar after Jeff Goldblum and friends escaped. A corporate spy, a dinosaur vet and his 15-year old daughter, a scientist, and the mercenaries sent there to save them all make up this second crew. It's your usual ragtag group of misfits, though of course they don't all make it to the end.

Jurassic Park: The Game

The game spans four episodes, but this is not an episodic release; the entire game is available for one price. The story follows a familiar trajectory—characters fight, switch sides, and die, all the while attempting to avoid being swallowed whole by a T-Rex. You don't learn much about any of the characters and they all play a pretty well-defined role—the rebellious teenager, for example, is rebellious. The Michelle Rodriguez-style character fills the role of every character that Michelle Rodriguez has ever played.

It's not the characters or the story that let the game down. The story itself can even be fun to watch. The problem is that sometimes you're asked to do something, and it's never enough.

Jurassic Park: The Game

Jurassic Park: The Game is made up mostly of quick time events. When a raptor chases you, you'll need to hit the right series of buttons to escape. If you're hiding from a T-Rex, you'll have to hold the cursor at just the right spot to steady yourself and be still. If you fail to do so, you'll start over and the game will ask you to do the same thing again. If you fail enough times, the sequence will get a little easier. There are some thrilling scenes in the game, but this style of gameplay ultimately robs them of any actual emotion or scares. You can't even fully enjoy watching the game, as you're forced to keep your eyes on the button prompts.

Even worse are the scenes that feel like an adventure game. The few puzzles you'll come across are ultimately too simple to be challenging, while the investigation sequences don't give you much to explore. You just look at stuff and then the story progresses. You don't even have an inventory or any items to find and use. It's all simplified to the point that the actual "game" aspects feel out of place. This an experience that's more fun to watch than it is to play.

I must say, that's disappointing. Especially how fun the BTTF games were. It also doesn't help that there's an apparent scandal surrounding reviews made by actual Telltale employees that significantly boosted the metacritic score before the game was even released. Not a good PR move.

I must say, that's disappointing. Especially how fun the BTTF games were. It also doesn't help that there's an apparent scandal surrounding reviews made by actual Telltale employees that significantly boosted the metacritic score before the game was even released. Not a good PR move.

It is my understanding that the Telltale employees only posted user reviews on Metacritic, and those do not contribute to the actual review score that is generally presented, since that is based upon "real" reviews. Telltale has responded that:"Telltale Games do not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet. However, it is being communicated internally that anyone who posts in an industry forum will acknowledge that they are a Telltale employee. In this instance, two people who were proud of the game they worked on, posted positively on Metacritic under recognizable online forum and XBLA account names."Source: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/jurassic-park- ... 980p1.html

Note that I am in no way affiliated with Telltale, I've just been a fan of theirs since the new Sam and Max, and I don't think that this mistake should be blown out of proportion. It sounds like it has been handled.

I must say, that's disappointing. Especially how fun the BTTF games were. It also doesn't help that there's an apparent scandal surrounding reviews made by actual Telltale employees that significantly boosted the metacritic score before the game was even released. Not a good PR move.

It is my understanding that the Telltale employees only posted user reviews on Metacritic, and those do not contribute to the actual review score that is generally presented, since that is based upon "real" reviews. Telltale has responded that:"Telltale Games do not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet. However, it is being communicated internally that anyone who posts in an industry forum will acknowledge that they are a Telltale employee. In this instance, two people who were proud of the game they worked on, posted positively on Metacritic under recognizable online forum and XBLA account names."Source: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/jurassic-park- ... 980p1.html

Note that I am in no way affiliated with Telltale, I've just been a fan of theirs since the new Sam and Max, and I don't think that this mistake should be blown out of proportion. It sounds like it has been handled.

Metacritic has a critic score and a user score.

At the time of release, something like 4 out of the 6 user reviews were suspected to be from TTG game employees, and all rated the game a perfect 10. It wasn't clear to people viewing Metacritic that TTG employees provided those reviews.

In the long run, those reviews will be buried by others. The average user score is currently 3. But it still isn't cool.

Why does this game exist? Not exactly a series that fans were clamorying for a revisit. Besides, the definitive Jurassic Park game was already made for the Genesis/MegaDrive. It was hard as all get out and the ending was a catastrophe, but that's how we rolled back in the day...

Certainly hope TTG goes back to adventure titles like Bone (finish the series!!), S&M, and MI. They should be working on getting a much better gameplay mechanic for the games. They work, but they could be way better. The writing is where they're gold.

I must say, that's disappointing. Especially how fun the BTTF games were. It also doesn't help that there's an apparent scandal surrounding reviews made by actual Telltale employees that significantly boosted the metacritic score before the game was even released. Not a good PR move.

It is my understanding that the Telltale employees only posted user reviews on Metacritic, and those do not contribute to the actual review score that is generally presented, since that is based upon "real" reviews. Telltale has responded that:"Telltale Games do not censor or muzzle its employees in what they post on the internet. However, it is being communicated internally that anyone who posts in an industry forum will acknowledge that they are a Telltale employee. In this instance, two people who were proud of the game they worked on, posted positively on Metacritic under recognizable online forum and XBLA account names."Source: http://pc.gamespy.com/pc/jurassic-park- ... 980p1.html

Note that I am in no way affiliated with Telltale, I've just been a fan of theirs since the new Sam and Max, and I don't think that this mistake should be blown out of proportion. It sounds like it has been handled.

Metacritic has a critic score and a user score.

At the time of release, something like 4 out of the 6 user reviews were suspected to be from TTG game employees, and all rated the game a perfect 10. It wasn't clear to people viewing Metacritic that TTG employees provided those reviews.

In the long run, those reviews will be buried by others. The average user score is currently 3. But it still isn't cool.

Seriously, most user submitted reviews usually come from scrubs who haven't even played the game and/or people who don't know what a OC stress test is. User scores, especially so soon after the release, are absolutely worthless.

I thought this might be the case. I've been a big fan of Telltale so far (though interest was seriously waning by end of Back to the Future), and if they stick to Monkey Island and Sam and Max, or something similar, they can do well. I feel like they're trying to grow and fill the gap between the casual game market and more serious game companies, but making things more childish (BTTF) or dumbed down (Jurassic) is not the way they want to go.

I applaud them expanding their horizons a little beyond their point and click game engine, but maybe they need to try another path. Let's see what happens with Walking Dead, got high hopes there, but their forays into non-humor (CSI, JP), have not been stellar so far. And if the TV Season 2 of Walking Dead doesn't pick up the damn pace right now I think the franchise may be truly dead by the time the game drops. Comic fans alone aren't going to sustain the sales I think they're looking for.

When I first heard about this game and that it was being made by Telltail I had high hopes.

However having watched some of the content, I have no interest in it at all now.

Same here. I even pre-ordered the game back in the spring, which I never do. Even though I had some hints about the quicktime events, I thought (hoped) it would be a small part of the game. Then after they delayed it until the Fall I found out more about it and decided to cancel my pre-order. Now I'm glad I did. This is a disappointment for TellTale and for Jurassic Park. Why would they do this?

Not at the current price point. Have some patience pick it up after a big sale for sub $10. I got it for renewing my ps+, and I have enjoyed what I've seen. However, this is not really a game and has very little to no replay value. I would be extremely disappointed had I dropped $30 on it.

Not at the current price point. Have some patience pick it up after a big sale for sub $10. I got it for renewing my ps+, and I have enjoyed what I've seen. However, this is not really a game and has very little to no replay value. I would be extremely disappointed had I dropped $30 on it.

A real shame. Telltale Games renewed by interest in adventure games when they brought Sam & Max back from the dead. It's telling that in just a few short years they've internally recreated the death of adventures games, from LucasArts high points or Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle (and Sam & Max, of course) to the near zero interactivity of the CD-ROM FMV craze.

bone to pick.after seeing the youtube video the game looks neither fun to watch or play.

also, i've complained a lot about Heavy Rain in the past. but seeing this game makes me admire how hard that team worked to reach the level they did.

I have Heavy Rain and after reading this article it sounds like a cheesy version of Heavy Rain: Jurassic Park. Only there probably are very few if any deviations from their "on rails" game.

Personally I thought I might pick up the game if it's on steam for like $2 or something during black friday or christmas. But I would only want it to last a couple hours and be able to beat it in one sitting... I loved Jurassic Park and if it felt like a continuation of the first movie from when I was a kid I would enjoy it.

"The story is mildly interesting and feels like a step up from the unnecessary third film,"

HA! If the truth be known, the third film was as good or better then the second film. Of course that's just my opinion. The first was the best and the second and third were good also. All three had their "I don't think so" moments.

I must say, that's disappointing. Especially how fun the BTTF games were. It also doesn't help that there's an apparent scandal surrounding reviews made by actual Telltale employees that significantly boosted the metacritic score before the game was even released. Not a good PR move.

Sadly, the iPad BTTF game is also complete garbage. It's incredibly buggy and almost a completely different game from the PC version. WTF, telltale? I Shudder to think of just how bad the iPad version of Jurassic Park must be. I think I did read some reviews on it before skipping hard a few weeks ago.